Students more susceptible to pneumonia, bronchitis durin winters in Logan
Debbie Lamb, Staff Writer Throughout the year, people constantly come down with illnesses ranging from the common cold to viral infections. Pneumonia and bronchitis are two illnesses that infect more people during the winter months.
Both illnesses can either be caused by a viral or bacterial infection and can occur together or independently, said Jim Davis, director of student health at Utah State University and an emergency room physician at the Logan Regional Hospital.
“Both are epidemics, meaning some days you don’t see any patients with it and other days that is all you see,” Davis said. “Bronchitis is very common in Cache Valley.”
Pneumonia is an infection or inflammation of the lungs. The air sacs in the lungs fill with pus and other liquid, and oxygen has trouble reaching the blood. If there is too little oxygen in the blood, the body’s cells can’t work properly.
Before 1936, pneumonia was the number one cause of death in the United States. Since then, the use of antibiotics brought it under control. In 1997, pneumonia and influenza combined ranked as the sixth leading cause of death. In the most severe cases of bacterial pneumonia, the symptoms may include shaking chills, chattering teeth, severe chest pain and a cough that produces rust-colored or greenish mucous.
Bronchitis is a respiratory disease that makes breathing difficult, and sometimes painful. The pain may be related to the swelling of the mucous membrane in the trachea. Other common signs of bronchitis include persistent coughing and aching associated with fever.
“There are lots of causes for bronchitis,” Davis said. “People should go to the hospital if they experience a fever of 105 degrees, a shortness of breath, chest pains, nausea, vomiting, dehydration, sore throat or if illness lasts up to seven days.”
The two primary causes of bronchitis are Haemophilus influenza, an organism found in respiratory infections, and Streptococcus pnemoniae, a type of bacteria that causes pneumonia.
Pneumonia and bronchitis are infectious diseases, Davis said. They can be passed when someone coughs into the air and sneezes. Washing hands, covering coughs and sneezes and staying at home when sick are just good manners, he said.